Doctor Daughter
by K.M. Star
Summary: Welcome to a world where Martha died, and the fob watch was never opened. Where the doctor stayed, and the Tardis was forgotten. At least until his daughter turned eighteen, that is. Some fob watches are better left unopened. Just... not this one.
1. Chapter 1

(Alright, a couple notes to clarify things before we get started - because this IS the doctor, after all, and the details are everything.

First off, this story is NOT centered on Jenny, although she WILL eventually arrive. Just… not quite the same way as the first time.

Which brings us to the second point - the nature of this particular AU. Back when the family of blood was chasing the doctor - don't worry if you don't know about them, this is meant to be enjoyable whether you watched the series or not - he went and hid in that school.

This version says he made a more sensible, if perhaps more dangerous, choice and hid in a CITY, that was a bit closer to our own time. You know, a big, smelly, busy place where it's much harder to track a single scent. Overall, it actually worked rather well - the family of blood was forced to be more subtle, and only caught up with him at the end of their time limit… Unfortunately, while they failed to kill him, they got to Martha before they ran out completely. She died, and the fob watch with his memories was never opened. (For those of you who don't watch doctor who, I promise you - I am NOT making that stuff up.)

The doctor - as John Smith - continued to live as a biological human, got married, had a kid - eventually - and is now a happy old man with a rooted life.

His daughter, meanwhile, inherited a genetic marker which marked her - for the watch - as the doctor.

This is HER story.)

Penny flipped the page, brushing away any stray hairs out of habit as she tried to figure out exactly what creepy thing Edward would do next. She sighed a little when she realized she'd have to wait for the next insult, flipping the page again as she stretched. She wondered how long exactly a girl could stay upside down.

"Um… are you okay?" came a voice, most likely from the other side of the fence.

She tucked the book under her arm as she tried to figure a good way to glare behind her own back. "Of course I'm not all right," she sighed, giving the cause up for lost after a moment's reflection. "I'm hanging upside down by my bloody skirt! So why don't you do what I called your agency for, and get me down?"

"Um… I'm not…"

"Would you stop talking and get me down?" she demanded, waiting until she felt the gate shaking before sighing in relief. It turned into a squeak of shock as his hand gripped her cloth, yanking her up for a moment before they both tumbled to the ground.

She felt the ground smash into her knee before she could think, the specially made fibers made useless by their shortness as she scraped against the ground. "Ow," she whimpered, softly. She could already imagine how much her father would rant at her about the "silliness" of a bullet proof miniskirt. Assuming he poked his head up from his books long enough to remember.

A groan drew her attention to the side as she looked up and down the man besides her, gently poking him in the side when he failed to do more than moan. "You all right?" she asked, her voice softening a little when she remembered that not everyone's clothing had shock absorbers. She hesitated for a moment before continuing, hoping he'd speak up before long. "You guys got here pretty quickly, honestly. So… um… sorry about the whole snapping thing. Blood flow to the head makes me bitchy."

"I'm not from the company," he muttered, pushing his way up with another groan.

"Oh? Sooooo… you're sorta trespassing, aren't you?" she smiled, gently brushing a wave of red hair from his eyes. He looked sort of cute, she decided, when he blushed so furiously.

"I- y- you told me to come over here!" he managed to stammer out, back slamming against the fence as he gawked at her.

"Yeah, but I'm burglarizing the place. You know, I thought I'd have to pay extra to get you to commit a crime, but now that you're an accomplice…" she smiled. "Mind lending a girl your hands?"

He gawked again, eyes bulging as he tried to sort out what she had said in his mind. "You… you're… fourteen…" he managed.

Her smile froze as the words left his mouth, cracking a little as it widened. "Oh, so just because a girl's waist is too thick, and her hips are too small, and her breasts are still tiny, you just assume she's a fourteen year old, is that it? Well, I apologize for being a late bloomer, you… You…. You bloody little half pint, toothpicked, trespassing-"

His fingers slammed against her mouth with an audible smack, her eyes widening at his stupidity as he desperately shushed her. She waited for him to remove them before loudly adding "assaulting," to her list.

"Look," he whispered, "I'm sorry! I'm… you're a very nice… mature… adult?"

"I'm eighteen, you wimp," she seethed, wrenching her hand from his fingers. "And I'm so very glad you've decided to apologize. Now come on and help me break in, before I have to pay those guys for not doing any work."

"…You planned this, didn't you?" he muttered, after a moment, walking in her footsteps as she strode up to a run down building.

"'Course not," she shrugged. "Would take way too much time. I just took advantage of the situation in order to get your help." She paused, shooting him a quick glare. "And would you please relax? It's my shed. I'm just breaking into it to figure out if Dad hid my iPod here. Least that's my current excuse -I've been trying to get into this place since I really was fourteen."

"Why?" he whispered, warily looking around as Penny withdrew a small stick from her pocket.

"Habit, probably," she shrugged, jabbing it at the key hole and biting her lip. She grinned as the stick gave at the pressure, sliding inside and hardening into a key as she gave it a quick turn. "Would you imagine all the awesome things that have got to be in a place like this?" she demanded, pulling her father's invention smoothly free.

"It's a run down shack," he pointed out, head bent to the ground as he glanced inside. A box crashed to the ground as she slammed the door behind them, the contents spilling out. "A damp and dark run down shack."

"Yeah, but it's a run down shack owned by a family that lives in an opulent mansion. With only one box." She bent down as she spoke, knees sliding on the ground as she considered adding another few inches to her clothing. "It's the only box Da ever let Mum throw away, according to her. All the other boxes here are empty, but it was like he wouldn't pay attention to this one… Makes a girl curious, you know? He pays more attention to most of his inventions than he does to me."

"So, what?" he whispered, bending down next to her in the darkness. "You've been searching for four years because it's the only thing he ever threw out?"

"Not the only thing," she muttered under her breath. "Just the first of two." Her fingers closed on something, and a flash of light peeked out from between her fingers. "He hasn't said a word to me in the last four years."

The item cracked between her fingers and the light blinded her in the former darkness.

"Blimey," she whispered, in a voice deeper than her own. "That does explain a few things."

(Clearly doctor who does NOT belong to me, and you can thank fanfiction.net/~mouseycat for the wonderful editing!)


	2. Chapter 2

In the distance they slithered, dead eyes raised to the morning light. They felt it wash over them, the first taste of true power in years. They allowed it to run through their veins for a moment, breathing it in deep as they raised their heads.

Then they began to move. It had been a long time since they'd fed.

"Blimey," repeated Penny, her voice raising and dropping in octave as she spoke. "It all makes so much bloody sense now! The way Da always looks at me, the way mom gets all quiet when I talk about their past, last week's math assignment… rocket science… God, did you know that there was once life on mars? Squicky icky stuff, that." She giggled, her hair moving forward as she bent in two. "God, I loved saying words like that. Or do I still love it? Timey-wimey, anyone?"

"Um… excuse me?" whispered the boy. "Girl without a name?"

"Of course I've got a name," she muttered, the effect of her annoyance ruined somewhat by her grin. "I'm the doctor. Or maybe I'm Penny…. Or am I Penny's Doctor?" she giggled. Her hand clutched the rail as her knuckles turned white, the cold metal biting into her flesh; she refused to let go.

"Um… Penny?" he whispered.

"Yes," she giggled back. "No. Maybe so? Am I still Penny, if I have nine hundred years of someone else's memories swirling around?" she paused, flashing a grin in the dim light. "No, that's a lie. Far more than nine hundred. But a girl's gotta have her… gotta have her vanity, you know?" she whispered, forcing the words out between her bursts of laughter. "Did I mention that I'm in unbearable pain? 'Cause I am. I'm the doctor in the room, but I'm the one who's dying. Isn't that just grand?"

He hesitated before speaking next, coming slowly closer. "Do you need a - I mean… do you need medical attention?"

"Oh, yes," he grinned. "Medical attention would be a wonderful thing. Great. Loverly. Wooooooonderful… Wouldn't work of course. Absolutely impossible. Can't be done. By the way - and this is very important, mind you… does my voice sound funny?"

"Just a little bit," he admitted, wincing as her hand closed around his arm. She pulled herself towards him, resting on his shoulder as she giggled again.

"That would be the watch," she declared, giggling. "It's trying to make me into a time lord, you know. Which is great, only, it's trying to turn me into a male time lord. 'cause the genetic marker I've got, and the memories it gave me, are all the Doctor's - but I'm not the Doctor. Only, I sorta am now, but I shouldn't have been. Maybe I'm the Penny," she giggled. "It fits, don't it? The Penny. Comes from money yet it's so bloody cheap! That's me. The penny. Just toss me aside, it'll be fine! I'm just the penny." She sniffled, the giggles refusing to stop even as the tears left her eyes. "God, this hurts…"

"I'm not going to leave you," he declared, his arms pressed under her as she giggled again.

She regarded him for a moment, silent outside of her giggles. "What's your name?" she demanded.

"Greg," he responded, hesitating a moment before adding "Linders. Greg Linders. My father's the… um… groundskeeper on your dad's estate, I think. If you're who I think you are."

"Oh, I'm rarely who people think I am, Greg Linders," she whispered, holding back the next giggle until the urge subsided. "But I'll hold you to that. The staying with me, thing… Of course, I've never had a male companion, before, but I don't think I've ever been a girl, either. Maybe I could turn you into a girl… Would you like that?" she smiled. "To have the thing between your legs taken away from you? To move and feel breasts pressing against your shirt? To go through periods? Child birth? 'Cause a lot worse could happen to you, if you travel with me… eighteen year old girl. Time machine. Not that I know where that is, mind you… maybe I'll find it, after I give Da a good yell. Maybe he'll even notice, now that there's no going back. Probably not, though…"

"I'm taking you to the hospital," he said, moving towards the door.

She pushed him away from her, roughly propelling herself into the wall, "Don't need a hospital. Need a police box. It's been on the far side of the property for years and Da's never let anyone touch it… None of us could even get in. I think I need the key. Maybe I'll remember the key if I see the TARDIS, though… Do you think you can get me to the TARDIS, Greg-man?"

"Will you go to the doctor, afterwards?" he asked, grabbing her sleeve.

"I am the Doctor, and don't make me shock you. But, yeah, I'll go to the hospital if I still need it… Which I won't… 'cause I'm the Doctor. By the way, there's something about to attack you from the right."

He turned instinctively, his head shifting out of the way as something slid through the air. It smashed smoothly into the ground, an inky tendril that crept through the floor. It leaped again, its body seeming to rasp through the air as it continued the motions of a slither. Penny giggled as she smashed her hand into it, dropping it to the floor.

"They think they look so tough," she informed him. "All happy and carefree and toughity toughity tough. But they aren't tough, really… not tough at all. Just scavengers, you know? Look good, but drop like stones with the slightest impact. We've got about five minutes before it wakes up." She paused, giggling. "But only about three seconds before the first wave gets here and tries to straaaaaaaaangle us. Once they wrap around us, they don't let go even if unconscious."

She giggled, gripping his arm and pulling him through the trees. She didn't pauses as the branches smacked into her face, simply smiling as they raked across her skin. "Greg?" she whispered, after a moment. "I've got a thingy in my pants that's not meant to be there. I don't like it, Greg."

"You mean you've got a-"

She put her fingers on his lips, smiling softly. "It's gone now though... Gonity gonity gone. That's not as fun to say as timey wimey, but it'll do…."

She scooped up a rock as she spoke, throwing it into a tree behind her and watching as it rebounded, smacking into something as it reached for them. It crumpled in a heap, taking three more creatures with it as she dragged them to the front of a bright blue box.

She giggled, her hand tracing down the door as she smiled at it. "Didja miss me, honey? Won't you open the door for mommy? Don't you recognize who she is?" she giggled. "Silly me, leaving the key elsewhere… Dun remember where I left the key… gotta go get the key, haven't we Greg?"

"Um… Penny?" he asked, nervously glancing between her and the tendrils in front. "Little help here?"

She snapped her fingers, giggling as the door creaked open beneath her. "I left the key on that one planet, didn't I? With that one friend? As a just in case? Well, too late now. Gotta go get it back. But that's okay, 'cause my precious let us in. Isn't that so sweet?" she giggled, grabbing his arm and pulling him in before he could even yelp.

He blinked as she slammed the door behind him, gawking as his mouth worked up and down. "It's bigger on the inside," she whispered, in union with him. "I love it when they say that line. Lovedy lovedy LOVE it. Or maybe da does… me and da and the TARDIS, but not all at once, oh no… But the beasties can't get in… probably…" she paused, thinking. "I mean, the mongol hoards couldn't get in, but come on… they had horses. That, and one alien blaster attack capable of rewiring the earth's core… but that doesn't count, 'cause it had no wheels." She giggled, her hand trailing across the way as the TARDIS lit a path beneath her feet. "

"Come along," she whispered to Greg, moving slowly a wall slid open to greet her. She stepped into it quickly, drawing something from her pocket and twirling with it. "Sonic screwdriver… da's first invention…" she giggled. "He always used to say, 'it's not right yet…' God, I used to love listening to him say that… Just need to make a few adjustments, and pick up the 'right' version from my baby here…" She gagged, the screwdriver falling from her hand as a spurt of blood came from her lips. "I've got two hearts," she whispered, after a moment. "Two hearts, and I think I'm starting to grow a thingy, again…"

"You need to go the hospital," whispered Greg, beginning to move in.

"No," she responded, shaking her head as the door started to close. He gripped it in his hands as she stared at him, pleadingly. "I"ve got two hearts, Greg. No other doctor can save me, anymore… Please?"

He hesitated, looking around the space, bigger on the inside. "You're hurt," he whispered.

"And you bloody care too much." Her foot smashed into his knee, driving him from the room as the door closed between them.

The TARDIS shook from the impact, outside. Penny just screamed.


	3. Chapter 3

Smoke swirled from the room as the door slid open, Penny's footsteps ringing out as she stepped out. Head held high, she smiled, doing her best to hide the fact that her eyes were watering as she waited for the smoke to clear.

"Um… Are you all right?" asked Greg. "You're… um… you don't look like you're breathing."

"'Course I'm all right," snapped Penny, breaking down into a glare as the TARDIS cleared the smoke she'd instructed it in making. "I'm the Doctor's Daughter, aren't I?"

"Um… are you?" he asked, looking vaguely confused as he looked around the room. "It's… bigger on the inside."

"Isn't it just?" she grinned, before jabbing him in the chest. "You, though, have absolutely no sense of dramatics, young man. Honestly…. I might as well have just waltzed out dressed in pink, and you would have been more impressed."

"Um… I thought you said you were eighteen?" he muttered, stuttering as he tried to regain some semblance of order over his thoughts.

She sighed in response, rolling her eyes as she silently wished for a pair of glasses to look down on him with. "Of course I'm eighteen! I also happen to be nine hundred," she snapped, ignoring the inconsistency as she closed the door behind her and strode towards the control room. "But if anyone asks you, it's bloody eighteen, and you'd better not ask questions about the nine hundred thing either, or I swear, I will jam this sonic screwdriver where your eyes can't look."

She drew the proffered screwdriver from the TARDIS as she spoke, mindlessly twirling it from her fingers as she yanked levers. "By the way," she added, nonchalantly grabbing onto the panel as the TARDIS shook beneath their feet. "You might be wanting to grip onto something."

She smiled as the sound of the TARDIS reached her ears, a familiar whirring that was nevertheless completely alien to her. She stifled a giggle at the sight of Greg tumbling across the ground, switching a few controls as they disappeared from Earth.

"What are you doing!" he demanded, breathlessly clinging to a beam.

"Hmmm? Oh, right, should have let you off…" she muttered under her breath, smacking a few buttons. "We're going to see my Da's ex girlfriend, so that I can get the key to the TARDIS. Don't now if it'll ever open for me again without it."

"Your… you mean, this thing can travel?" he whispered, looking in disbelief around them.

"'Course it can travel, it's a bloody space and time ship! What did you think it was?" She paused, thinking for a moment. "Don't answer that. Or hit any buttons. Particularly not the blue one - you never hit the blue button, understand me?"

He nodded, fidgeting a little under her stare before turning away.

She smiled at his back before fidgeting with a few more controls. "You might wanna prepare yourself, this is going to be a little bit bumpy. Rose lives in an alternate universe, and all. Thick walls, but I know how to get through…"

"So, wait, this thing can travel to an alternate dimension?" he demanded, eyes squinted shut as he tried to wrap his head around everything that had been happening.

"'Course not," she grinned, hands gripping tightly on a lever as she pulled. "That would be ridiculous. We're just gonna go through one of the randomly occurring cracks that Da was always too scared to look for. Girl looked into the heart of the TARDIS. The ship itself can find her, if I give it enough head way and don't mind breaking a door or two…" She grinned as she spoke, smashing her fist down on a button as the TARDIS began to shudder. She felt it come to a standstill below their feet, the air rippling as the dimensional barrier itself squeezed down on them.

With a pop they burst forward, a familiar whir marking their entry. She smiled as she headed to the door, the light splaying across her skin as a bird chirped in the distance. "Wait here, will ya?" she asked, stretching a little. "This is gonna be a bit tough…." Her eyes glazed for a moment as she looked around the house, small and boring. She noted the scenery in the distance with a slight hint of distaste, the beautiful rolling hills seeming out of conjunction when she thought of the "Rose Tyler" in her mind.

"Doctor!" came a voice, a woman running out with her suitcase in hand. Penny blinked at the woman, youthful as ever, blonde hair tumbling across brown eyes as she ran forward. "Doctor! I knew you'd…. You'd…." she hesitated, staring for a moment as her eyes focused on Penny's for a moment. "Doctor?" she whispered.

Penny hesitated, tongue cleaved to the roof of her mouth as memories and thoughts conflicted with her. Running with Rose in a time before she'd even been born, hugging her, loving her, holding her. Bad wolf, her getting trapped across the dimensions, leaving her. Never having known her in the first place, because Penny had never been there at all. "S-sorta," she whispered after a moment, scrunching her foot against the ground. "It's… um… It's been…"

She felt her cheek pushed back, reeling in surprise before she had time to register the fact that she had been slapped. "That is for abandoning me in this place, and telling me that you weren't coming back," she snapped. "For three whole weeks - I almost unpacked!"

Penny gawked, staring at the woman for a moment before she felt hands grip her stinging cheeks, and lips pressed against hers. She felt the tongue sliding into her mouth, opened in muffled protest, the lips moving up and down. Something inside her said it felt good. The rest of her reacted.

"What the hell do you think you're doing!" the girl demanded, pushing Rose away and choking. "I'm a girl!"

Rose's eyes flashed hurt for a moment before she glared. "Well, so am I, Doctor, but I figured I liked you enough to try it out."

"I'm not the Doctor! I'm his daughter!"

Rose hesitated, looking down at the girl in front of her with wide eyes as she spied out the various similarities not seen between regenerations. "His… daughter?" she asked, after a moment.

"His daughter," she repeated, half wanting to gag, half wanting to do it again. She shook her head to try and remove her father's tastes from her brain, wishing as always that this planet had already invented brain bleach. "You can call me Penny," she said.

"But…" Rose stared at Penny, blinking her eyes a bit. "But you said you were…"

"I said I was sorta the Doctor," clarified Penny. "I've got all his memories, lives… The TARDIS… Did I mention he's forgotten everything?" She added, blushing a little under Rose's stare. "He's been thinking he's John Smith since before I was born… If I hadn't inherited all his bloody memories, the poor ship would still be rotting in a field like it has for the last twenty some years."

Rose swallowed hard, sniffling back a tear. "So you mean the doctor… forgot…"

"The Doctor never forgets about anyone," muttered Penny. "It's bloody John Smith that's the problem. Trust me, I've got every tear jerking memory he's ever got about you. Including about three dozen rescue plans for you he never dared to use. Da had commitment issues."

"Oy, and you don't?" laughed Rose, looking at the girl.

Penny blushed again, feeling the eyes scrutinize her, weighing her to see if she matched up to the Doctor Rose remembered. "No, I don't," she muttered, firmly. "I have abandonment issues, instead. Makes me far clingier. So, you going to get in the time machine, or am I just here for the key?" she smiled, weakly, not entirely certain why she did. "We still need to go visit Barcelona."

Rose smiled back with a sigh, taking Penny's hands in her own. "First, we go in for tea."

Penny groaned, even as she let herself be led. "Your mum is going to bloody love this, isn't she?"

(While I'm here, by the way, I'd like to thank Automicwalrus for the fave, and Mouseycat for the editing - you both rock!)


	4. Chapter 4

Penny stepped nervously into the house, looking around what she assumed to be the living room. She wondered for a moment if it was actually possible to live in a house that small, before blushing at how rude it sounded. Still, she couldn't restrain a slight sense of wonder as Penny led her across the carpets.

Rose turned, spotting the girl's uneasy expression with a small smile. "God, it's probably the first time you've actually been in a house with your da, huh? Let me guess, you spent all your time living on the TARDIS?"

"Actually, I've… um… I grew up in a mansion." She blushed again under Rose's stare, before quietly adding, "A big one."

"The Doctor raised you in a mansion?" she said, quietly, voice tinged with disbelief as she stared at the girl in front of her.

Penny shook her head. "I told you, I have all his memories. Da doesn't even remember being the Doctor anymore. He's been in human form since before I was born."

"So you're…?"

"A Time Lady," she said, firmly, smiling at the confused expression on Rose's face. "Da left all his memories in this… watch thingy. I absorbed it all a few hours ago." She laughed, a tinge of bitterness in her grin as she glanced into Rose's eyes. "One minute I'm an eighteen year old girl, the next I can remember over nine hundred years worth of stuff, all floating in the back of my brain. Thing bloody near killed me, you know. Twice as bad as when I had to take all of time from your system…"

Rose hesitated before asking, "When 'you'…?"

Penny winced. "Sorry. Pronouns are killer…"

She nodded, biting back her questions as she tried to decide whether to treat her guest as the Doctor, or just another girl. Letting it go for the moment she headed into the kitchen. "Ma! We got a guest!"

Jackie bustled out at the speech, blinking in surprise. "Did you bring a little girl home?" she demanded, after a moment, glancing at Rose. "I don't want you taking in random girls off the street, Rose! God, her parents must be worried sick!"

"I'm not a little girl!" she snapped, her father's distaste mixing with her own as she glared at Jackie. "I'm nine hundred or eighteen!"

"Nine hun…" Jackie stared for a moment at Penny before turning back to Rose. "Are you telling me that she's… and that you two are… And you're… God, Rose, she looks like a bloody child!"

"Well, excuse me for not having breasts yet," muttered Penny, glaring at her.

"She's the Doctor's daughter, Ma," explained Rose, quickly.

"And the Doctor!" declared Penny, suddenly indignant. "For all intents and purposes, anyway. I happen to have his memories inside my brain, you know! Which is a bloody good thing, since he fairly much finished up using them…"

Jackie looked between them again for a few more minutes before throwing her hands up in exasperation. "Well, would somebody explain to me what the bloody hell is going on!"

Penny shrugged, self consciously, glancing at Rose, opening her mouth to speak before her stomach gave an especially loud growl/.

"We'll discuss it over tea," declared Jackie, bringing one of the first genuine smiles Penny could remember giving the woman. She could really use some tea.

Penny hurriedly burried herself in her tea cup when she'd finished talking, feeling the stares of the two women like a second skin. She kept drinking to hide her blush, knowing full well her story of how she'd gotten there was unbelievable.

"Won't your Da miss you?" asked Jackie, after a moment. Her voice seemed tendered than the Doctor had ever heard it.

The cup shook a little in Penny's hand as she put on the table. "He won't notice I'm gone," she said, finally. "Ma's been dead for a few years now, so no one will really care."

"What do you mean 'won't notice,'" demanded Rose. "The Doctor is not the type-"

"He's not the Doctor!" snapped Penny. "I am! He's forgotten all about it, for the same bloody reason he forgot me!" She hesitated when she watched them blinking, suddenly aware she'd said too much.

"What do you mean, forgotten about you?" asked Jackie, slowly as if tasting the words. "How do you forget about your own daughter?"

Penny took another sip to delay, even though there was nothing in the cup but dregs. Resisting the urge to make a face, she explained. "I tried to sneak into the shed to find out what Da was hiding a few years ago… When he found out…" she shrugged, not sure what else to say. "Da's subconscious mind has been protecting himself from his past. When I threatened it, it blocked me out too. Between Rose and Martha - that was the companion he had after you," she added, upon seeing Rose's expression. "Nothing romantic, trust me, but a death's a death, you know? Once she died, too, he sorta… stopped fighting, maybe? At least, I figure that's what happened." She smiled without a hint of humor at the startled woman across the table. "Me and Da, and a few servants, in one big mansion type area, where I barely spend any time if I can avoid it. He hasn't talked to me in four bloody years, even when we go through the garden. Can't even see me anymore, I suspect," she snorted.

She wondered what to say next, looking between the blinking blondes as she wished something would interrupt the awkwardness that came with bashing your Da's former love in front of her mother. As if in answer to her unspoken request, the door opened as Greg entered.

She smiled with real feeling again, shaking her head at his stupidity. Walking into a room with three awkward feeling females the first day on the job - he was going to have a lot of learning to do once they were done raking their claws through him. In the meantime, however, she opened her mouth for introductions.

((Thanks to MyGoldenGlow and Lost Child of Gallifrey for the reviews, as well as everyone who added me or the story to alert!

Glow: I hope you're curiosity is keeping you going! I'm afraid I only update once or twice a week, but I hope that's enough for you… I'd do it more often, perhaps, but one - I do a story a day on DA, generally not including this. Two… Um… Can I cite ADHD as a good reason? It's harder to focus on just one project for me. :P

Gallifrey: Thanks! It's meant to have some good humor in it, as well as drama and action and all the rest. I wanna keep things light. Penny's life makes things too easy to slip into angst, after all.))


	5. Chapter 5

(WARNING, WARNING, WARNING - ultimate necessary evil lies ahead! …A transitional chapter. *Shudders*

It exists for the sole purpose of getting the characters from point A, to point B, and build up just a little bit of the basis for their future relationships - this is where you see just how Rose and Penny will most likely treat each other, as well as their view of Greg's view in all this… It's a bit bland, I'm told, and I'm not honestly surprised. I HATE transitional chapters.

But they're necessary, now and again, so I hope you'll forgive me this once. ^^;)

Penny shoved her way back from the table with a sigh, filled with all the food Jackie could stuff in her. She wondered for a moment whether it was from true concern, or a simple desire to keep her daughter occupied, before noting with a sour expression that it was most likely maternal instinct. With a sigh she let the bitter feelings go, content to let the annoyances of her appearance dissipate if it meant a good meal now and again. It had been a while since she'd been allowed to eat anything not handmade for her by the chef and delivered via butler.

"So, I guess this is pretty unusual for you, yeah?" asked Rose, stirring Penny from her reverie.

"What is?" she asked, stretching a little as she got to her feet. She heard Rose getting up to follow her but didn't look around, confused feelings swirling around her heart as she tried to pick out what was really her, and what was just her memories.

"This whole being out on your own with the TARDIS thing. You said you were raised in a mansion, right?"

Penny shot her a glare, noticing the unspoken hint that she was probably used to getting pampered. "Lay off the testing will ya, Rose? I'm not Da, and I don't like being asked to prove I am. It's not like I got pampered by choice, ya know. Servants tend to look after you more closely when your Da can't remember your name half the time."

She hesitated, an awkward silence settling over them again as both fought to find something polite to say that wouldn't require conceding defeat. As if on cue Greg stepped up to them, drawing uniform glares from the girls until he backed hurriedly away and down the hall.

The two girls shared a glance for a moment before braking [breaking! BREAKING!] into grins, Penny leaning into the wall for support as she laughed. She clutched onto the rough white surface for a moment, simply letting the laughter pour over her. It felt good.

"You got him house broke pretty good, didn't ya?" asked Rose, ginning a little.

"I've been dragging the poor guy around since I blackmailed him into helping me break into my own bloody shack," grinned Penny, happy to see the slightest hint of respect in Rose's eyes.

"You did what?" she demanded, giggling a little behind her hand.

"I'm telling ya," grinned Penny, sighing a little. "Poor boy's so innocent I just wanna pinch his cheeks and yell at him sometimes, you know what I mean? He's more bloody innocent then the Doctor on a bad day!" She froze when the words were out of her mouth, afraid of Rose's reaction. She noticed with happy surprise that Rose was giggling. "So, you gonna come onto the TARDIS?" asked Penny, hesitantly.

Rose wiped a tear from her eyes before responding, a single nod matched with a grin. "Bloody hell yeah! I'm not getting let go by you either, you know! You're the closest thing the world's got to the Doctor, ain't cha?"

"And you're the best dang companion a girl could get!" she grinned, walking out with a sense of fulfillment. She tried to push aside worries about where it as coming from as she looked behind her, adding with a grin, "Not to mention the only one who's available."

Rose smirked under her breath as Penny grabbed the handle, a sense of content clear on both their faces as they looked around.

"So, where are we off to?" asked Rose, spotting Greg quietly reading in the corner.

"To find my other key, now that the TARDIS can change ours," smiled Penny, flipping switches with an air of practice. "Thing could do damage with a thing like that, you know!"

"Like steal all your makeup?" grinned Rose, laughing at Penny's glare as the diminutive Doctor Daughter began to flip things around.

"That, or take over the universe, yeah," she muttered in response.

((Wow. Faves. Reviews. Alerts… does this mean I'm popular! Or just that you're all reaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaally generous?

Ah, well, either way - this is the last startup chapter, I suspect… After this, we face the first threat, and you're in for a wild one. It's a mixture of the incredibly creepy, the grimly humerous, and the sheer knowledge that this early in our writer-reader relationship, you quite frankly have no idea just who I'm going to kill off or how, if anyone.

Have fuuun!))


	6. Chapter 6

(Don't worry if you recognize the beginning - that just means you read the now nonexistent 5.5. Skip down a little, and you'll get to the new stuff. J )

Penny poked her head out as the TARDIS materialized, staring out the alley at the people passing by. "Coast is clear," she declared, stepping out. "Temperature is a wonderfully average twenty two point two degrees, Celsius, and there's a faint breeze which is in every way possible normal." She glanced back at Rose, a slight smirk on her face. "You buying this, or am I gonna have to sell Big Ben to someone else?"

"Like my first adventure when I get back is gonna be normal," scoffed Rose. She twirled a little as she left the TARDIS, blue skirts swirling around her ankles. "How do I look?"

"Like you're playing dress up for Greg," responded Penny, not bothering to look as Rose snorted. She walked out of the alley as she spoke, fingers moving absently against the wall as she listened to the city's sounds. She breathed in the scents of the city, pausing when they met her nose, and sniffed again. They weren't there. "You smell that?" she asked, glancing back at the confused Rose and Greg.

"Smell what?" the blonde demanded, cautiously lifting her face into the air as she sniffed a little. "I don't smell anything.."

"Exactly," muttered Penny, sniffing again. "You've been living in peace and quiet out of the village since you got dropped off. Nice peaceful village without smoke or smog or any of those little pesky smells."

"Yeah, so?"

Greg's face lit up in shock, drawing Penny's gaze as she gave a nod. "It smells like a garden," he said. "I mean, not the flowers… just… Um…"

"It's clean," interrupted Penny, tapping a hand against the wall as she thought. "The entire city smells clean. Looks it, too - no fog, no pollution, nothing. I don't even hear the roar of a car," she muttered. "In fact, the only bloody thing I hear is…." she went silent, her finger continuing to tap in rhythm to the city's sound, a single click that appeared once a second. She tapped her foot in accordance with it, her face stilling as she peeked around the corner. "The entire city is walking in union," she declared after a moment.

"But that's impossible," muttered Greg, looking around the corner with her. "They can't all be…"

He stared with her, mouth hanging loosely open as they watched the people pass. They moved in tandem, step after step ringing across the ground, each clicking in tandem upon the ground as they walked across the surface. Their eyes kept straight ahead, people slipping past each other without interruption as the complicated mass swirled and moved in perfect coordination.

"This entire world is fake," she muttered, glancing around at them. "It's all artificial…"

Rose stared at her. "So what? They're like robots, or something?"

"No, they're real," she muttered, tapping her foot on the ground. "Like Cybermen, without all the metal casings, or something… Even the ground's hollow," she added, jumping on it a little. "An entire hollow little world filled with hollow little people doing hollow little things in a hollow little nest. Question is, how long have they been that way?" she mused, glancing around a bit. "How about we explore a little?" she grinned.

"Like you have to ask?' demanded Rose, striding forward. Penny followed after with a laugh, slipping through the grid as Greg slipped behind. "Which way do we go?" demanded Rose after a moment, glancing at Penny as the girl stood on tippytoes to see.

"Eenie-meenie-minie-moe, it doesn't matter which way we go," she murmured, looking around before reaching out to knock one of the walker's heads. He didn't moving, hand simply coming up to meet hers with equal force as he continued walking without missing a stride. She hesitated before aiming a kick instead, wincing in surprise when her leg made contact with his. He didn't flinch, simply walking forward.

"What? The Doctor kicks people, now?" asked Rose.

"Doctor's daughter," mumbled Penny, too distracted to truly object. "And I'll have you know I kick quite well. I played football for a year or two, before I got too small to keep up. That guy should be on the ground, or something…"

"Your kick probably just isn't all that hot," shrugged Rose, grabbing her hand and tugging her through the crowds. "Come on, we're blocking up the traffic. You too, Greg!" she called, making the boy jump nervously before scurrying forward.

Penny glared at her, but didn't speak, leaving her hand in place as she glanced around. "I look like a school child," she muttered after a moment. "Does this planet even have school children?"

"What planet wouldn't have children?" demanded Greg, making Rose and Penny exchange glances. They burst into giggles a moment later, content in the knowledge that innocence still thrived. "What?" he demanded, glancing between the two of them as they leaned against each other. "What's so funny?"

"God," muttered Penny, wiping a tear from her eyes. "That's just… that's good. That's really good, Greg. God, it's been forever since I've heard anyone try to use an absolute like that…" She smiled, some of the tension easing from her shoulders as she cocked her head. It flowed back as she listened, brown furrowing as something tried to sink in.

"The footsteps," whispered Rose, a chill passing down Penny's spine. The footsteps had stopped.

"Hello there!" declared a blend of voices. She couldn't tell how many, the tones and timbers all blending into one as she spotted one of the smiling figures. "We kindly request that you die now. Thank you for your cooperation!"

"Well…. Crap," muttered the girls, exchanging a glance as more figures began to filter through the crowd, glints of metal shining off their weapons as they lifted them in union. Penny's mouth pulled back in distaste as she skimmed over the large barrel, recognizing the features of an energy bazooka as the figures stepped through the frozen crowds to all sides of them.

"Hello there! We kindly request that you die now. Thank you for your cooperation."

"So, what do we do now?" whispered Rose, eyes alight in that special mixture of anticipation and worry. "Run?"

"Nowhere to run to," she murmured, glancing around as the bazookas began to draw beads on them.

"Hello there! We kindly request that you die now. Thank you for your cooperation!"

"So what? We can't attack them!" whispered Greg, eyes wide in fear. "You saw what happened when you tried that earlier!"

"I attacked him perfectly well, thank you," she replied tersely. "He didn't have a bazooka, though."

"Hello there! We kindly request that you die now. Thank you for your cooperation!"

"So, what are we going to do?" asked Rose, eyes wide in fright.

"Hello there! We kindly request that you die now. Thank you for your cooperation!"

"You heard the man," answered Penny, shrugging as the ground began to shake. "We're all going to die now."


	7. Chapter 7

(I know - at LAST - a new story!

Sorry I took so long - finally have earphones that work in both ears, so I can write easier… Mousey edited it… Honestly, it should have been up a couple days ago. I'm sooorry!)

Penny held her breath as the ground gave a final shake, shooting an apologetic look to Rose as the ground gave way beneath them. She felt the air around her, breath momentarily lost from her lungs as they dropped through the fake crust to the hollow center below.

"What do we do now?" shouted Greg, struggling to be heard over the wind. Penny sighed, rolling her eyes a little at the boy's stupidity before gathering enough air in her lungs to answer:

"We die. Duh."

He gawked at her a moment, jawbone working silently as she tugged his red tee shirt close enough to wipe her face. He yanked it out of her grip, angrily glaring down at her. "That's your plan! We die! We could have died up there!"

"Yeah," she shrugged, stretching a little bit. "But what the hell would the fun in that have been? Now stand still, I wanna try and dry myself off on your shirt before I die."

"Wait - wait a minute!" snapped Rose, forcing Penny to twist around with a sigh. "Are you actually telling me we're going to die? That you don't have a plan?"

"Well, actually, I'll probably live," she muttered, thinking for a moment. "You might die, though… Or not. It all depends on what we find at the center…" she hesitated, glancing between their disbelieving faces. "Do you think it'll be chewy?"

She caught Rose's hand, twisting it and Rose around before pulling her near to sit on top of the girl. "Relax, would ya? I'm only eighty percent sure anyone's going to die down here, and at least ten percent of that is because Greg is an idiot." She shrugged, ignoring the quiet protest from Greg as she kept her eye out. "Look, it's a fake hollow planet, right?" she demanded, waiting for the telltale shift that told her Rose was nodding. "That means we're dealing with fake gravity, a fake power supply, and prooooobably some sort of equalization to stop the whole thing from cracking open like an egg. By the way," she added, "do you have any candy?"

She blinked as a building passed, a grey blur almost too fast to note with a burst of blue that had to be the controls. She grinned to herself, squeezing down a little on her sonic screwdriver to assure herself, before turning to the proffered stick of red candy from Greg.

She took it with a grin, swinging her legs over Rose's back as she munched down on the candy. "Licorice," she muttered, appreciatively. "Red, too - absolute fave, even if it is totally inaccurate… Did you know it's only called that because it pretty much looks the same?" she shrugged, taking another bite. "Most delicious inaccuracy on the planet, sitting right in my hand… God, I love this stuff." she turned it in her hand, taking a bite of the other end before blowing through it. "Plus, it makes just a wonderful little tube…"

"Are you talking about candy when we could all die!" snapped Greg, voice rising a little bit in panic. He squirmed, trying to get closer to her.

She yawned in return, smacking his hands away before jumping off of Rose and onto his back. "I'm talking about her because we're slowing down," she informed him, taking another bite and chewing with reluctance.

She fidgeted a little in the silence that ensued when the others realized that she was right, chewing on her licorice slowly as they began to fall in the opposite direction. "I hope you realize what I'm giving up for you people," she murmured to no one in particular, aware of their eyes on her as she shoved her sonic screwdriver into the hollow tube of candy, using it to press down the activation button. "This is probably going to kill my treat. Which, by the way, I don't get to have very often."

"You knew this was going to happen, she accused. "Oh my god! You bloody knew we were going to… to…"

"'Course I didn't know," she muttered, taking careful aim. "I just didn't wanna die at their hands, and I wasn't going to bloody leave you up in my place. Abandonment issues, remember? If I die, I'm taking you with me. Now shush for a moment, I'm going to need a good platform." She hooked her hand across Greg's body, crawling up to his stomach as they flew through the air, and stepping lightly over to Rose. She hesitated for a moment, one foot on each of their falling bodies as her hair swirled around her conscious of the fact that the slightest shift in aerodynamics could send them flying from each other. She aimed carefully, picturing the device in her mind's eye, and waiting for the connection to be made.

Biting her lip, she threw it forward, waiting for the telltale explosion as the building came into view. She heard it within moments, a grin of relief pressing through her as a burst of energy floated from the building, slowing them to a standstill before yanking them towards the structure. She grinned as her feet touched upon metal, a small whistle coming from her lips when she recognized what they were standing on.


	8. Chapter 8

(Woooow, it's been forever... Sorry! Hooonest! It's been this long for once simple reason - i have low computer access currently. ;_; Hard to keep this up and my regular stories - still, hope you enjoy! I'll try to be more consistant.)

Penny whistled softly as she looked around, tapping the metal beneath her feet slightly in thought. The composition of the metal was simple enough, judging by the echoes, nothing that a normal interstellar civilization couldn't come up with. More impressive, however, would have to be the massive bolt of energy connected to the system.

"Where are we?" demanded Rose, her voice a little querulous. Greg was nodding beside her, his face showing the fear that no one else was willing too give way to. She ignored both of them, tapping her foot again as she looked for an entrance.

"I asked-"

"I bloody well know what you asked," snapped Penny, glancing upwards. "I'm trying to figure things out for myself, in case you hadn't noticed. Now shush for three seconds, while I figure out…" She hesitated her foot smacking into the screwdriver. She scooped it up with a grin, wiping off the charred candy with a frown before aiming it at the metal plates below them. "Hang on," she advised, reaching out casually with a hand to grip the lip once it fell from beneath him.

A quick squeak from the others, followed by a thump, made her sigh as she swung. "I told you to hang on," she pointed out, rebounding off the wall before sliding onto the ground. "Or did something confuse you about the matter?"

"Well, excuse us for not all being time lords, then," muttered Rose, her hooded glare making Penny flush.

"I learnt that from sneaking out, actually," she admitted, deciding to ignore for the moment that every other time she'd tried it had resulted with he stumbling to the ground. She'd always been able to grasp the physics involved with the trick, but the ease with which she'd done it this time was something she didn't want to think about. She didn't like the idea that being something other than human had started to feel natural.

"You really are the doctor's daughter, aren't you?" muttered Rose, her tone caught at some fantastical place between warmth and scorn. "You can't even sneak out like a normal child."

"'Course I can," retorted Penny, shushing the little voice in her head screaming otherwise She started to walk down the hallway, her hand pressed against the metal as she hesitantly tried to think of something that would make her response sound just a little bit less stupid. "I just… didn't live in a normal house, is all," she ended up with. She wished she knew if she was blushing as badly as she felt.

"What?" scoffed Rose. "You couldn't even clamber down the ivy?"

"Mum hated ivy," Penny whispered back, the instinctual flinching from Greg doing little to add to her humor. "She always had the gardeners cut it down whenever it started to grow. Just one of her little quirks - said that nothing good could come of growing on her wall."

She ignored the others in the silence that followed, acutely aware of Greg's fumbling footsteps behind her. He had known about the ivy, from the look on his face when Rose had spoken. He was the gardener's son, so it made sense. She was fairly certain she'd seen him working as a servant, occasionally, for that matter. She wondered for a moment what it meant that she couldn't even cross the universe without a servant to look after her. "Mum would have a fit, if she knew," she decided, blushing a little when it brought their gaze on her.

"Halt!" came a voice, the distraction bringing her a rush of relief. The gun trained on her brought remarkably less, though. "Explain your presence, or I will be forced to fire!" the man continued, making her grimace. She hated when people made her explain herself.

"First off, that's a rather nasty thing,' she informed him, aiming the screwdriver at the gun and resolutely making it explode. "Second off… what was your name again?" she demanded, staring him up. Average build, sandy brown hair, and deep brown eyes with just a little bit of self awareness, she thought she might be able to take him in a fight. Considering the rush of awareness that was coming into his eyes as his mind filled with fear, and the all important survival instincts took hold, she wasn't sure she'd need too.  
"Second off," she continued, pretending she wasn't noticing his slow shift in posture. "What's your name?"

"Um… Dave, ma'am," he whispered, somewhere between a soldier and a scared boy now that she was staring him down.

"Dave," she mused, rolling it around in her mouth. "I rather like the name Dave… Or maybe Davedyf? Can I all you Davedy? It just sounds so cool - Davedy. Davedy, Davdedy…" She waited for his nod before shooting him a grin. "Well, then, Davedy… take me to your leader."


	9. Chapter 9

Penny whistled to herself a little under her breath, tapping a hand to her breath just a hairsbreadth off from the monotonous sound of footsteps spreading through the building. It was making Dave decidedly uncomfortable, judging from the way he kept looking back at her. His footsteps were aligning to it, too, just a second off the beat everyone else was casting. She was changing the way his brain worked. That was good - so long as she could keep him on edge, keep the programming at bay by doing what it wanted anyway, it was good. She didn't want to think about what she might have to do to him if she failed.

"You're staring at me," she announced, after a moment. Dave stiffened ahead of him, losing the beat for a moment before picking it up again. He didn't look back; it was Rose she was talking to, anyway. "You have been ever since I got Dave to lead the way."

"That's because I'm trying to figure you out," she admitted. "You're a bloody brunette tart half the time, and the Doctor's genius daughter the next. It's like your two people all mashed together and tossed onto my plate. Like some mad man's idea of fish and chips if they were all one dish."

"I am two people," she pointed out, casually. Not too casually, she hoped, careful not to let the gentle rhythm cease. She didn't feel like two people; she felt like one person forced to hold back someone else, a constant bulwark against over nine hundred years worth of insane ideas and thoughts. She half wondered if that rhythm she was tapping out kept her sane, as well.

"Would you have really done anything… bad to him?" asked Greg, nervously brushing some of his hair away.

She snorted. "Let's just be glad I didn't have to find out, yeah?" she shot him a grin, to top it off. "Mighta

ended up going either way, you know."

He stared at her for a moment before looking away. She wasn't sure she liked how easy it had been to convince him of that. 'Course, she wasn't sure she liked a lot of things. She particularly didn't like the way the man above was falling out of step with her tune, revering back to the normal pace. She jammed her sonic into the small of his back, and he righted quickly enough, if a bit stiffly.

She glared at the others for the way they were looking at her, kicking a toe at the floor self consciously. "I'm Da's daughter, not Da," she muttered, with more of a defensive note than she liked. She was right. She knew she was. She just wish it was easier to make everyone else see it, too.

"We're here," declared Dave, saving her. She shot him a thankful grin, cracking him on the head with a quick shot to knock him into unconsciousness. "It'll be harder on him if he's awake when the big brain beaks," she explained, ducking in to avoid their following stares. She was The Doctor's Daughter. Not the Doctory. She didn't have to follow his bloody pacifists ways just because she had his memories. It's not like he had cared enough to even pass them on himself, either, and she didn't care whether thinking that made sense or not. He had no right to expect her to follow him, and they had even less right.

But she could still feel their eyes on her when she walked in, their feet scraping nosily against the ground as she glided in. God, she wished they'd take those eyes off of her. She could still remember wanting to kiss Rose's lips, to feel those soft buds parting beneath her searching-

She cut the thought off, roughly pushing it aside as she strode into the room. "Is someone going to get the bloody lights?" she demanded, after a moment. They flickered on, one row after another at first in an attempt to intimidate her. She yawned at first, and they flickered at her encouragingly.

There was a creature on a \throne in front of her. Something that looked like a man, if too big, sitting on a golden chair with a hat hiding his head. He smiled at her, lifting it up enough to see the pink and wrinkly face of a massive brain standing alone above the neck, deep set eyes blinking at her. It was still smiling when it stood, striding towards her on what she couldn't even imagine as legs anymore. They were tentacles, tentacles shoved down into pant legs to wriggle across the floor inside of boots, picking him up and carrying him forward.

She forced her eyes shut, facing him calmly without sight. "Are you going to drop that illusion, or are we just going to stand like this all bloody night long?"


	10. Chapter 10

"You're a hard one to please, aren't you?" he sighed, form wavering. Penny cracked an eyebrow to look at him, snorting when brown hair began to sprout from bare brain, skin slowly revealing itself.

"Speed it up, will ya? It's an illusion, not a transformation. I should know."

"Patience, little girl; You need a flair for the dramatic to keep yourself occupied on this world." The illusion was down to the neck, average brown hair nestling upon an average, if somewhat handsome, face with brown eyes and a gentle smile she wanted to smack. "I'd show you some bloody dramatics if you didn't have every gun at the room pointing at me…"

"Not so!" he declared, gesturing with a human arm nestled against an alien torso. She wasn't particularly interested in it unless it happened to sprout breasts while she was looking at it; it was about time someone besides her had to deal with confusion. "I also happen to have guns trained on your friends. Though I am quite surprised to see you made it this far - how did you find me?"

"Other than the fact that you're at the exact center of your own planet?" she demanded. "There's the small fact that you have my key to the TARDIS. I want it back. Now."

"Your key, huh? I didn't expect it to belong to a fourteen year old…" She bristled, wondering if she could get away with an actual hiss or if it would just make her look silly. He overrode her as if she didn't exist, shaking his head as his normal - and displeasingly breastless - chest heaved in a sigh. "I'm afraid I can't do something like that… Not when it's powering my Normalizer. The whole world might dissolve into chaos without it."

"If you mean that it might actually show a spark of actual uniqueness amongst the population, than I don't give a bloody crap. I want my -"

"Well, who would?" he interrupted, arching backwards a little in a languid stretch. "It sounds like it would be quite painful an experience, personally… besides which, I don't think I could take fecal matter as payment for something of this… magnitude…"

She shot him a glare he seemed to be oblivious too, tapping her fingers in thought as she eyed the people around her. Rose and Greg were being silent, the former eying the guns with an angry glower and the latter looking too pale faced to speak. No hope from either of them that she could count on, though she thought she could trust Rose for some quick punches if she could manuver things right. The guns would be useful if she could actually get a hold of one, no matter the voices yelling in her head not to do it. She was The Doctor, now, not her dad, and she'd bloody well shoot them if she wanted too. But the guns were still out; they were too much of an unknown factor to do anything more than smack someone with, even if she did get her hands on one.

The best bet would be to short them all out in a single well aimed sweep, but she wasn't sure she could do that. The second best bet would have been to launcher herself up, bounce off the wall, grab the chandelier, and swing to freedom so she could go hunt for the key. Besides having been physically impossible a day ago, that plan had the small problem of leaving the others behind. And through all her plotting, the man was still talking.

"Of course," he admitted, proper feet striding across the marble floors with an audible click as he offered her a grin, "the place does get a rather lonely… No minds to speak of, here, you know. Even your friends will start giving into it before long if they stay… But you, I think you could keep fighting it forever. Right besides me. You're a bit young to marry, but…" he offered her a small smile. "What do you say?"

"Right besides you?" she muttered, testing the words, and repeating them again. Rose was giving her a shocked look, but Greg wasn't moving. His face was more than just gray, it was blank. Rose didn't even seem to notice she was tapping in sync against the wall, her fingernails clicking repeatedly. They'd been fine in the corridor. The guard had gotten worse on the way as well. "Right besides you… But you're using a type four telepathic modulator, with my key as the very small power source and unitizer… The only way it shouldn't affect you is if you're playing queen bee. But you're not, are you? You wouldn't even have the energy left over to think for yourself, if you were…" He was frowning at her, he noticed, hand coming into a fist as he prepared to signal the guards. "Which means that the only way you could possibly resist its effects would be if it couldn't affect you, which would require…" His hand was just starting to run when she punched him in the chest, smiling at the satisfying sensation of something cracking between her knuckles.

The room erupted into chaos.

( I am HAPPY to announce that we're about at the end of this arc. Happy because I can now move onto other things. I liked the idea of this villain, and the beginning parts, but I didn't really think out where I wanted to go with it. I hope to think some more out before I do the next one on Sunday (or maybe Monday, if things work out like they did this week, but hopefully Sunday.) I have a lot of characters I want to introduce, a lot of things I wanna mess with. Jenny's creation, Rose's relationship to Penny, River's role in this universe… There's a whole lot I've got to mess with. J )


	11. Chapter 11

The floor in front of Penny exploded as the first gun fired, more exploding against the walls from who didn't simply drop their guns on the floor and start to scream.

"What did you do?" seethed Rose, grimacing when a man streaked past her, naked to the waist.

"Broke the neuro-transmiter he was wearing on his chest," she shrugged, reaching into the man's shirt to pull out the mangled device. It let loose a few electrical sparks as she pulled her key from its surface, before dropping it to the floor and crushing it beneath her foot. The unnamed "leader," gave a jerk when it crumpled, before returning to utter stillness. "They'll be fine in a few hours. This is just a temporary mental breakdown do to sudden freedom of the conscious. Come on, we're gonna be late for our next location." She shot the pale faced Greg a grin as she walked through the screaming men, disarming the last person with a gun via the sonic screwdriver and striding past.

"Next location? I thought you just wanted to get the bloody key!"

"The Doctor never contented himself with getting any bloody key," she grinned back, grabbing him by the arm and pulling him along. Rose strode by with an air of practice, sidestepping strippers with only a faint air of distaste mixing with her humor.

"I thought you said you were The Doctor's Daughter, not the Doctor," he pointed out. He seemed oblivious to her pointed glare, though she did notice his feet moving half a second faster as they strode down the hall. She disliked having her words thrown back at her as if she had to be consistent.

"The Doctor Daughter isn't bloody well going to be outdone by her father, alright? So come on! World's to explore! Miracles to see! Gardens to… prune, or whatever the hell else you want to do." She grinned, laughing a little with a whistle. "Come on," she added, aiming the screwdriver at the throne and laughing a bit harder when a wall slid back. "We've got to ride the elevator to the surface so we can get on the TARDIS, and I can take you all to the fifth America - the second fifth America, which never accepted that it was founded three seconds late, not the other one. It's much more interesting than the first one, trust me - much better sights. All around wondrefulness. Did I mention that they made a few historical errors and made an amusement park devoted to Queen Victoria? With a shaved head, of all such things…"

"Wait… What? You're taking me where?" Rose was looking at her peculiarly, too, frowning a little at the display of excitement. She couldn't help it if she was excited; she felt so much more alive now that the key was in her hand, like all the energy in the world was rushing through her. Like she could take on all the world and laugh while she was doing it. Like she really could surpass her Da. She pushed that last thought down firmly, refusing to acknowledge its existence for the time being as she gave them a grin.

"Look, are you going to actually make me explain where we're going, or are you just going to trust that I'll miss it like always and we'll end up somewhere even more interesting? Speaking of which, let's find a distress signal. There's always a distress signal somewhere. Interesting things happen around distress signals. I love it when interesting things happen around distress signals. Don't you just love it when interesting things happen around distress signals?" She kicked a particularly rambunctiouslyhowling soldier to the ground before he could charge into her, not bother to pause. "I really do-"

"Doctor!" interrupted Rose, bringing a flash frown and a stir of her father's memories; she didn't like it when people called her by that name. "What's wrong with you?"

"What's wrong with me? You're the one calling me by Da's name, like you still can't tell the difference after everything I've done. Just because I'm a little… Rambunctious…" She backhanded a soldier out of the air, sending him flying. "Doesn't mean that there's actually anything… wrong…. Okay, so maybe there is a little bit of energy overflow," she admitted, blushing. "Me and the TARDIS just had a nine hundred - don't contest it - year link between us reestablished during a surge of adrenalin which would have made a humans heart burst. That on top of the entire alteration of my genetic structure this morning, the growing of new organs, and did I mention the fact that I seriously need to pee? So, if you don't mind, I'd sort of like to get on the TARDIS… now…" She paused, frowning at a faint whirr as the TARDIS materialized in the elevator. She snapped her fingers in appreciation, twirling towards it as the doors opened for her. "And there it is," she grinned, waving a hand before disappearing inside. "Come on, everybody who's anybody who's not running around like an animal pile up inside! Plenty of room, plenty of fun, and did I mention that I'm serving Pina Colatas?"

"Is… that supposed to happen?" asked Greg, after a moment.

Rose just shook her head before walking inside. "Come on. I think Penny's about to find a distress signal."


	12. Chapter 12

The walls of the TARDIS shook enough to make Penny's teeth grit. The rest of the crew practically fell where they stood, Rose gripping onto a beam for support as the TARDIS fought to be kept from changing direction.

"What the hell's going on?" she demanded, whiping a sweat stained strand of blonde hair from her eyes. Penny wished she wouldn't do that, some days. It was a pain shoving down memories of feeligns and desires she didn't want. "Bloody da and his bloody memories of bloody… Just a moment, Rose!" she snapped, pulling a couple levers as the TARDIS stopped its shaking. "It's all taken care of."

"You managed to pull us free?" That one was from Greg, his own trembling figure making her want to laugh more than cry at least, if she didn't give in to urges of smacking him first.

"Oh, hell no! I just told the TARDIS to let them. I'm gonna beat the bloody crap out of them for this."

Rose snorted - it wasn't fair something in her said the girl was pretty doing that – before rolling her eyes at Greg. Penny stuck her tongue out at both of them indiscriminately for herself, before turning back to the concil and proceeding to poke buttons until a screen appeared, depicting a ship.

An older design, grey with red stripes for decoration and spiked wings that looked as if they were meant to cut something more than they looked like living quarters. There was something off about it, though, something detecting more power than should be there. She shut down the screen before she could examine it any more closely. "The only thing Da wouldn't approve of about thiss whole mess is me bothering to look things up when I could have fun finding them myself, Rose, so you don't have to go around giving me dirty looks just because I want to cave their face in. You did it often enough no matter what I-" she faltered for a moment, shovering her father's memories back – "no matter what Da said."

"Yeah? Well you might wanna open that screen again, 'cause we're slowing do-" The TARDIS shook again, making Penny scowl again before striding towards the doors. She hid a grin at the fact that Rose had been deposited firmly on her rear, thrusting the doors open and striding outwards.

Cool air smacked her in the face, a gentle if artificial breeze making her grin as she closed her eyes and took in the scents of the ship. Cooking in the distance, a greenhouse somewhere on board, and the faint smell of burning that came with old energy based weapons. "You boys going to put down your guns anytime soon, or am I going to have to kick your arses twice in one day?"

She cracked one eye open to examine the ranks, now shuffling uneasily as they looked at her. Half were female judging by the size, all humanoid if not outright human. Black clothed figures with black glass shields and black energy-pistols aimed in her direction. More than half of them, at least, had the grace to look embarresed.

"I thought the TARDIS was inseperable from The Doctor," whispered a voice. The ranks stirred to let him out. His face had a smile on it, but she prefered to keep her gaze on the eyes. They didn't seem to blink as he looked her over. "Or are you trying to tell me you offed him for us?"

"Something like that," she shrugged. "He hasn't been around for about eighteen years. Any particular reason you're interested in seeing him? Maybe I can introduce you to his corpse." She gave him a flat smile in return for his own, making a consious effort not to note the doors and exits. The guards had stlopped shuffling when he had started speaking.

"I'd have to see a rather convincing one if you want to tell me it's the Doctor. He was a miricle at changing his forms, you know, from what I hear. Nothing short of a DNA test would suffice, if you wished to be… sufficiently rewarded for your efforts."

She laughed, hoping she was making th eright move considering the bizarro movie she had apparently landed herself in. "First off, stop talking like we're in some spy-fi-mafia-war type thing, alright? Second off, you still haven't told me why you want to see him in the first place."

"Other than to kill him?" the man shrugged, eyes never leaving her. "I just thought it might be a nice moment to introduce him to his daughter."

(Just another brief installment in the story. :)

A biiiit too dramatic this time around, but I hope everyone enjoys and has fun guessing what happens next.)


	13. Chapter 13

Penny concentrated on breathing; she wasn't entirely certain she wouldn't forget not to, otherwise, and it was the best way she knew how to control her voice besides. "His daughter?" she ventured.

"Yes. I thought she might like the honor of killing him herself. Of course, if she's dead…"

"Then you can drop the over-dramatic shit and let me out from behind this already, right?" A grinding noise drew Penny's attention more than the voice, her breath catching for a moment when the right hand wall began to split. "I've been telling you since birth, old man. If I'm gonna kill, I'm gonna do it without needless exposition and telling everyone my plans. So stop building secret tunnels from my bedroom door – I almost killed ten guards just using my fireplace."

"And who gave you permission to use secret exit number fifty three?" he demanded, raising an eyebrow. The owner of the voice stepped out of the crack, blonde hair framing a face that was most likely pretty when it wasn't scowling. Penny's only relief was that the girl didn't look much like her.

"I was bloody cold, is what gave me permission! And… fifty three? Please tell me you're just randomly numbering these things, old man, 'cause if there's another half dozen of them I have to find…"

"Two dozen. And you completely missed the ones in the ceiling bored. Now, if you're done ruining me… what do you call them?" he inquired, raising an eyebrow. "Useless exposition? Well, if you're all done, I thought you might be interested in the fact that your father is almost undoubtedly one of those still within the TARDIS."

"I told you," Penny snapped. "The Doctor's dead, and it's a bloody good thing too because I certainly never birthed anything like-" She stopped, eyes flicking between the two of them, the girl simply glaring and the guy smiling softly.

"So, a lover as well as a companion?" he asked. "It's funny. I didn't realize The Doctor took them so young. Perhaps its good you never met him, Jenny dear… never know what he might have thought of a young thing like you. Or did he only like sixteen year olds?"

"I'm eighteen," she seethed, half surprised the combined stare of two time ladies wasn't enough to make him burst into flame. "Old enough to kill the doctor, and old enough to be told why the hell I have a… A…" she glared at Jenny. "Her!"

"My, my, you're assuming an awful lot claiming it has to be yours, aren't you?" he mused, before shrugging. "The point of fact is, there is no birth mother – now shush, Jenny dear, I rather like exposition. It flushes things out now and again." He ignored her grimace, focusing that smile on Penny instead; she wondered if her expression wasn't a mirror of her "daughter's." "Quite some time ago, now – I'm sure the Doctor mentioned this to someone as… important… to him as you – the Doctor lost a hand, and regenerated. Manipulating the genetic material of that hand, as well as a few stray skin cells that we utilized for balance – I believe they were from the one known as Rose?" He studied her for a reaction she thankfully managed to suppress before giving a small shrug. "Utilizing them, we were able to create a female Time Lord with above average combat abilities, utilizing the so underused physical strength of your kind. I fear we may have lost some tiny bit of the mentalities… Or perhaps our Jenny simply has never had your love of them, Doctor."

He was raising his voice at that last bit, looking at the TARDIS as if expecting the man to come running out. "I told you the truth about him being dead," she muttered, giving him a glare. She hoped the TARDIS knew to stay shut considering what she was about to do. "You really should listen to what a girl has to say. Da's been dead since before I was even conceived."

She grinned when he paused, his mouth working silently as he tried to process the information. It lasted long enough to grab Jenny's hand, yanking her towards the cut in the wall and sliding between the startled guards. "Me and sis here are gonna have a bit of a heart to heart, 'kay? Move and you die, don't move and I might decide not to kill ya, yadda yada yada… Look, let's just leave it with the fact that your plan sucks and I beat the hell out of it, okay? And one last thing," she added, grinning when the leader began to get up out of his chair. "Sonic screwdriver, plus TARDIS key recently reconfigured for power source, equals…"

She dragged Jenny away from the sound of exploding guns as the walls began to close.


	14. Chapter 14

Penny felt Jenny's hand tighten on her a moment before the girl pulled, her own feet bracing against the strength that seemed intent on ripping her arm off. Twisting, she pulled the girl towards her, bare hand slamming towards the girls nose and sliding through thin air as the girl elbowed towards her stomach. She sidestepped in turn, hooking a foot beneath the girl's leg, waiting for her to leap out of its way, and then abandoning convention by using the continued hold on her arm to slam them both into the ground through her weight alone.

"Are you bloody well finished yet." Penny snapped, kicking against a raising foot before it could complete its journey to her own behind; she had to give the girl credit for flexibility, at least.

"You're a time lord," she accused.

Penny rapped her knuckles on the girls forehead for a response, practically grinning at the girl's glare. "Bingo, baby. Which is why you and me are going to have a long talk about how killing people is only appropriate at times when they piss me the bloody hell off. Or, you know, when they're interested in destroying me, the universe, and everything existence stands for. Or cupcakes."

"Do you always babble like this?" muttered Jenny, stretching a little to see how far she could go. Penny clamped down on the movement, squeezing her thighs against Jenny's sides until she calmed down.

"Yep. And why the hell couldn't they have named you Jennifer, or something? Do you have any idea how confusing naming habits get when our father is concerned? Not that I can expect anything more from a man people know as "The Doctor," but daaang they like making our life difficult…"

The girl lunged forward from beneath, slipping through the thighs to grasp her hand around Penny's throat. She bent practically in two to avoid it, swinging her legs up in an attempt to slam Jenny into the wall, then reversing direction when the girl used her hands to push backwards. The other girl's butt slammed into the floor with a thud, and she rolled forward until she was on top again.

"Our father?" asked Jenny, cautiously.

"You know… The Doctor? The only bloody git stupid enough to get himself trapped as a human, saddle himself with a kid, and promptly forget about her and everything else so that she'd eventually end up with all of his memories and skills? Nice moves, by the way – don't quite compete with nine hundred years' worth of translated muscle memory, but still."

"You have The Doctor's memories?" she demanded, eyes wide.

"Yeah, so listen to your mother and shut the hell up while I figure the best way out of this death trap. Why the hell do you wanna kill Da, anyway?"

"Like I'm going to do anything else in this godforsaken dump?" she muttered, fidgeting with her blouse a little to make sure everything was fine. She barely put any effort into her next punch, allowing it to be swatted aside with an equal lack of attention. "They only made me so I can get him out of the way. What the hell other choices am I gonna make?"

"How 'bout the one where you kick their arse for thinking they could control a time lord, then smack their heads together until they have better thoughts? Like about how they're going to turn this into our own personal training grown where we can come kick them any time they want."

Jenny snorted in amusement, then caught herself, stifling a smile with a frown. "They told me The Doctor was a peace loving fool."

"Peace loving? Yeah. Fool? No. Me? Definitely not. Wanna go blow up the planet?"

Jenny did grin, then, a slow smile that worked its way across her features bit by bit. "No talk about how everything living has a choice?"

"Neah. I have about three gazillion watts of excess energy running through my system, a souped up sonic pen, and seriously impaired judgment caused by a massive time machine trying to claw a deep psychic link into my skull. So listen to your big sis and help her get it all out of her system by blowing things up."

Jenny pushed herself up slowly, waiting for Penny to get up before offering her hand, swinging the girl over her shoulder, and grinning as they stood back to back in the strangest handshake ever made. "I thought you were my mother?"

"And your father! I'm a complicated, dang it! Now come on before this degrades from search and destroy to 'kill it! It looked at me funny!'"

"Fiiiiine," sighed Jenny. "But you're taking all the fun out of things by not waiting!"

(Believe it or not, I don't actually like doing fanfics that much. It's hard to write with antoher's characters, and I enver quite get the same feel for them... Plus, as a series work, I seem to tend to do more talking than detail. I don't know for sure how well this will work out, as a result, but... Enjoy!)


	15. Chapter 15

Penny knocked on the passage walls, rapping it with a knuckle every foot or so and listening for the sound. "How the hell do you forget where the power room is, anyway?" she demanded after a moment.

"Shut it, 'sis.' I figured I'd have to kill The Doctor before I could blow him up, back then."

"Don't you talk to your mother that way! And that's no excuse to not pay attention; the man has a blasted army sitting here, who's only purpose in life is to kill me, and who have the capacity to create more beings that can kill me. By the way, I brought your other mother with me, as well. Rose. You know, the human one; the stray skin cells? The reason you came out blonde. Important stuff to note, that." Her knuckles scraped against a particularly rough patch, making her try to wince and grin all at once as she heard a hollow sound. She punched through it easily, grimacing more from the solid crack that happened when it broke through the air; she was fairly certain she'd heard a grunt, too.

"If anyone asks, that guy looked tough, okay?" she commanded, flashing a grin at Jenny's smirk as she kicked the rest of the way into the wall. A bedchamber greeted her, the occupant lying on the floor for pickup; a woman, long tresses of hair sliding around in a great enough pile that it seemed it must have cushioned the punch if not the fall. She ignored that, simply glad not to see any blood splashing the blue carpet as she strolled through the room and opened a door into a more normal hallway. She looked up and down around it, shooting out a few lights with the sonic screwdriver before tentatively stepping out, and gesturing for Jenny to come.

"You do realize you sucker punched a princess, don't you?" her daughter whispered. Penny glared at the half-hidden snicker, but otherwise didn't make a comment as they stalked down the halls. The tile floors seemed too loud, her hearts pounding and her breath coming fast. She was going to be in trouble if she couldn't right her system soon.

She ignored it for the time being, knocking out lights as she found them while they crept towards the center of the building. It twisted less outside of the passageways, and Jenny actually seemed to know where they were going, but Penny still kept them to a slow and creeping pace. As much as she wanted to get them through, she didn't particularly wish to punch through a skull because her body was too unbalanced to control properly.

"You have got to be the most boring mother I've ever had," sighed Jenny, reaching around the corner and smashing someone's head against the wall. There was no blood that Penny could see, but the guard collapsed like a sack of potatoes before Penny even had a chance to curse. "The last three fakes at least tried to get me to help them escape; one was a decent enough sparring partner until I got bored enough to use my strength. Then I meet the real thing, and what does she wanna do? Walk slowly. Don't get hurt. Turn off the lights before you put people to bed… Seriously! You wanna override an army or not?"

"What I want," muttered Penny, stalking past the other girl to explode few lights, than calmly walking towards the sturdiest door in the hall. "Is to get out of here before a thousand years' worth of TARDIS experience fries my brain to a crisp with the help of an overpowered key and a bumped up psychic connection that came from being overly lonely. What I want, is to find out how the hell I ended up with a daughter that's also my sister, and the child of another woman all at the same time." Her fist bruised a bit from that one, but the wood splintered as she kicked the rest out. "And I'm bloody well going to take care of the first one, alright Jenny?" She pulled what was left of the frame out of its socket, tossing it down the hall and walking into the room, eyes blinking as a light flicked on.

The barrel of a gun stood focused between her eyes, causing them to widen in surprise as the original man from downstairs smiled at her. "It's a very bad thing to mess around with a man's fortress, you know… You've been tearing down walls."

"It's a very bad thing to point a gun at a girl, you know. You've been tearing down laws."

He gave a grin, nodding a bit in an acceptance that might have felt better if his hand wasn't squeezing against the trigger. She could feel Jenny behind her as well, though she couldn't see the girl enough to know what she'd do next.

An impact to her shoulder answered the question for her, the world sliding away. "Bloody hell…"

(Next week… we follow Rose for a bit! :D )


	16. Chapter 16

Rose glanced out of the TARDIS, gently pushing the door outward when she wasn't met with a burst of gunfire; so far so good. "You coming, or not?" she asked Gregory, moving out as the boy hesitantly followed her; she tried not to show any relief.

"You sure we should be doing this? I think Penny wanted us to stay."

"Her and her Da always want people to stay. You've just gotta learn when to ignore them," grinned Rose, setting off down a hallway. It wound around outside of that room, making sharp turns left and right. She ignored most of them, simply walking through doors as they presented themselves and glancing around the place. "Bloody hell, it's a maze," she muttered to herself.

Gregory simply fidgeted, following along with hasty looks backwards and continuously looking back the way they'd come. Rose thought he might faint when they saw their first guard, narrowly ducking into a room to get away. There was a broken wall on the opposite side of them, a girl groaning on the floor as she pushed herself up.

"I think we found out where they were," muttered Rose, glancing at the girl. "You alright?"

"I got bashed over the head by a huh… in the bloody blazes are you?" the woman demanded, pushing her way up. The words seemed wrong for a girl wearing that many petticoats, but her stormy expression matched them well enough to make Rose grin.

"Just someone passing through. Wanna come? I think the place is going to blow up soon; unless you're in charge of stopping that?"

"In charge of – my guards will be here to rescue me any day, now, so if you think you can get away with torturing a princess…" she warned.

Rose simply snorted back. "You don't know The Doctor very well, clearly. Come on – I think he passed down this way." She gestured absentmindedly as she walked through the hole.

Penny groaned on the floor, pushing her way up with bleary eyes to see Jenny in front of her. She tried to mouth an accusation, but her head felt too fuzzy to work right.

"You going to kill me, or not?" demanded Jenny, standing above her; Penny thought she saw the glint of a gun; other than the one the old man was carrying.

"I could ask the same question, Daughter. I didn't think you'd side with some companion over me."

"She's interesting, alright? And you were about to shoot her." Jenny shrugged, a little laugh pulling its way out of her throat. "Maybe I'll shoot her myself, when I'm through having fun; dun know yet. But I'm not letting you kill her before I get to decide."

"It's rude to turn on your creator, you know… only an idiot doesn't put a failsafe in his creations." He smiled softly as his fingers went towards a button; Penny wanted to scream, when she heard the chirp; Jenny just laughed again.

"Only a bigger fool doesn't realize you're not a fool, and forgets to take your failsafe out," she pointed out. "The nanites were a nice touch, by the way – it took me a week to deactivate those suckers."

He scowled, drumming a hand on the side of his chair with his free hand, gun still held level. "Guards!" he called after a moment. "I've decided not to shoot them after all; put them in chains so we can all have a nice long supper."

"Oh, I do love a nice long supper," grinned Jenny, dropping her gun to the floor. "And such interesting dinner conversation we'll have, don't you think?"

The old man laughed back, making Penny wish she could grimace; the whole family laughed far too much.


	17. Chapter 17

(I'm not sure whether I'm actually going to be continuing this, for the time being.

Nano is over, so I CAN come back to it, but my book is ongoing, and I have other series I'm working on – this is arguably my least popular series, on DA, so I'm mostly trying to feel out if anyone is really interested… Until MI is done, only one of my series will be prominent, and the others will be relegated to "occasional things I do." Mostly, regardless, I'm going to be working on one shots…

So yeah; if you have any real interest in seeing this story going on in the here and now, please let me know? Otherewise you can catch me at .com, and see what else I'm up to if you'd like. :P I'm more popular there than here anyway.)

Penny ate soup. It was good soup, she thought; warm, delicious, and nicely thick, a creamy thing that slid down her throat the moment the spoon entered her mouth. She thought she tasted an array of vegetables, onions and carrots with a thin slice of potato or two, all mixed in with some of the richest beef she had ever tasted.

It also had the unfortunate downfall of being served to her by the madman across the table.

The old man, who had introduced himself to her as Brutus, raised a cup in salute before chugging down a swallow of what she had officially termed Foul Alien Alchohol Number Two Hundred and Seventy three, having found an ungodly amount of similarly horrid drinks in her memory. She had decided not to drink it. Jenny, meanwhile, had guzzled hers down as if it was made of water.

"You know," her daughter growled, "this would be a lot easier if we weren't still in chains."

"Easier to eat, or easier to kill me?" demanded Brutus, lazily spearing a slice of roast on a blade that had rather too many sharp edges for eating with.

Jenny shrugged, using a more dull knife to do the same. "Both, actually; I figured you'd make a better table than a master, once I'd carved enough holes in you and plugged the, up with some good plates. Maybe I could serve my mother something with them."

Brutus nodded thoughtfully, affixing his stare on Penny this time. "That was a rather startling piece of information; the one thing I never thought I'd have to contend with, I admit. It raises… intriguing questions of what I'm going to have to do with you." He smiled, shaking his head a little as if he was discussing what to do with his little girls when they'd brought home a bad test score. "I never thought I'd have to kill a thirteen year old for my plans to function."

Penny bristled at the implication of her age, but kept her temper down. "You don't have to kill me, you know; I rather like the idea of going free myself." She grinned as she spoke, taking her own knife and meticulously cutting the meet; it was even duller than Penny's , making the work meticulously slow. Worse, she could still feel the TARDIS inside of her brain, urging her onwards as it wound its way through her subconscious. She thought it was going to drive her insane if she wasn't careful. She thought she might let it if things didn't pick up the pace.

"You might have made that argument before you coerced my child into helping you and evaded most of my guards in the process." Brutus shrugged his shoulders impotently, wearing a disarming smile as he sliced through the meat for a spurt of juices. "I'm afraid that most of them are feeling the shame quite keenly. Particularly around the upper back area; I think they're going to want revenge."

Penny relaxed herself forcefully, unclenching her fingers from the blade one by one, and placing it on the table. She had only managed to free a single chunk of meat, but she bit into it savagely regardless; it was good, but rough, filled with potent flavors that almost made her choke. She made a point of chewing it slowly, anyway, keeping her eye on him as she ate.

"If you're going to blame me for the fact that you whipped them," she said, after a moment, "you can at least have the decency to let me hold the leather. I'd have liked revenge for the fact that they tried to shoot me."

He stared at her a moment before laughing, tilting his head back but never quite closing his eyes. He wasn't sure if she was serious, Penny thought, which was a good thing. Jenny was looking at her with open curiosity, too, which was less of one. She was going to have to work on that girl's personality later, though. For now, she had other things to worry about, and it was important to deal with them one step at a time.

Brutus took a drink of Foul Drink, and spoke of the state of the ship. Jenny mentioned a few things about punishments that needed to be handed out, largely for infractions Penny couldn't name. Both laughed and smiled with each other, their hands firmly on their grip.

Slow be damned; if the pace didn't speed up enough for her to blow something up, she was going to kill every one of them.


End file.
